Talking to Pets & Other Animals

Ken Anderson

Ken Anderson

Well-known member
I have always talked to animals as if they were people and could understand everything I was saying, and that works out well. I'm sure they don't learn languages like we do, as far as putting definitions to words and evaluating sentence structure, but they - cats, at least - recognize patterns, and language is all about patterns, and it's easier to develop a pattern for communication when I speak to them as if they understood me. Whether it's a cat, a strange dog who may or may not be thinking of attacking me, or a squirrel, it seems to communicate something to them when you speak to them, so I do.

Most of my experiences are with cats, but I grew up with horses, cows, cats, dogs, foxes, raccoons, and chickens, as well, and of these, I'd have to say the chickens were the least communicative, followed by cows. Neither chickens nor cows seemed particularly bright. I don't know what they actually understand and what they don't, but there seemed to be some effective communication going on with dogs, cats, raccoons, foxes, and horses, in that order. But then I didn't spend much time with the cow or the horses, and I hated chickens. However, my dad would spend a lot of time talking to Bill, a gargantuan old workhorse that he used to farm with before replacing him with a tractor. I think he died before I was born, but Bill was reportedly part of a work team that included his brother. I don't know anything about horse breeds, but Bill was as huge as he was gentle. For a horse, he was okay.

I've had a couple of raccoons as pets when I was a kid, and they are very communicative. When you talk to a raccoon, he wants to be face-to-face with you so that he can talk back. My raccoons always had more to say than I did.
 
Last edited:
When you think of it, language is all about recognizing patterns. You don't teach a child to speak by giving him a dictionary, a thesaurus, and books on sentence structure and grammar. They learn to talk by listening to their parents and others around them, understanding the patterns.
 
I know that several of our dogs actually knew words and understood what was said to them in an elementary way. If I said "bath", Harry would run upstairs and jump into the bathtub. The Yorkie we had before Harry (Spike), would hear "bath" and hide under the bed. I had to spell words like "cheese" or I would be besieged with begging. They knew "bed" and "outside" and "daddy" among others.

Dogs are also very sensitive to tone.
 
I don't know if it's understanding the words or not, but Miki understands phrases. Like, "You want to go out?" She goes to the door. "You want to play?" She goes to the toy box. When she is eating and has had enough, I tell her. "That's all" and she stops begging. She is my burglar alarm. When she hears a car or noise outside, she barks. Sometimes she hears something and there is no one out there. I look out and say, "Nobody there, Miki Girl. It's all right." She stops barking and goes back to one of her beds.
 
A guy walks in to a talent agency with his dog.

Agent: "So what do you guys do?"
Guy: "My dog can talk."
Agent [rolls eyes]: "Okay. Go ahead."

The guy says to his dog "What's on top of a house?" The dog replies "Rooof!"
"How does sandpaper feel?" The dog says "Ruff!"
"Who's the greatest baseball player that ever lived?" The dog says "Rooth!"

The agent kicks them out of his office. The two of them are sitting on the curb, and the dog looks at his owner and says "I should have said DiMaggio?"
 
Welllll ...I see chickens as being smart, for chickens. Their pecking order reminds me of humans. I know I told the story of one of my chickens of old. She was an Amish chicken I picked up at the bird swap in a box of 5. The Amish by us would clip the birds' beaks and clip their wings so they could not injure each other or fly away. Anyway, she used to follow me around and tell me what I was doing wrong. I didn't understand her words but she cackled away, following me everywhere. I was late one night to close up the barn and we don't have electricity there. Chickens can't see well in the dark so all the birds were up roosting already except for Red Chicken. I walked in and she started pecking at my feet. ??? I pushed her out of the way but she kept yammering and pecking. Finally, I got down almost to her level and scolded "What do you WANT?!" She ran down the stalls and came back. Ran down the stalls and came back...several times. I followed her and she turned the corner at the end and I saw the horses loose in the arena had knocked the mounting block away from the end stall. Mind you, she could not fly and I had that there for the flightless birds to jump up to the stall wall to roost for the night.
Could Lassie have explained it any better?
You can find a good story from any animal, pet or wild about communication. No?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top